Undergraduate - UnitATS1901 - News media and society

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2014 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered, or view unit timetables.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Arts
Organisational Unit	Journalism
Offered	Caulfield First semester 2014 (Day) Caulfield First semester 2014 (Off-campus) Caulfield Second semester 2014 (Day) Caulfield Second semester 2014 (Off-campus)
Coordinator(s)	Dr Stephanie Brookes; Monica Jackson

Synopsis

This subject introduces the study of news and information media and their relationship to contemporary Australian society. It locates the structures and major shifts in technologies, industries and audiences in their historical and geographical social contexts. It explores the developing political economy and sociology of production and consumption for news and information, and relates the changing patterns of media discourse in news and information to the shifting composition and structure of Australian society. Drawing on media case studies and examples, the subject examines the changing media profession, different media genres, professional values, ethics, news narrative, moral panic, photography and social media. In addition, it locates the Australian experience in its international context.

Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit students should be able to:

demonstrate a satisfactory knowledge of the unit subject matter;
demonstrate a capacity to make effective usage in written and oral presentation of the relevant academic literature;
demonstrate an ability to research, discuss and analyse issues in a clear, concise and rigorous way;
collaborate constructively with fellow students in learning and discussion processes, including online forums;
produce their written work to deadline making effective use of the conventions of scholarly presentation (references, bibliography, etc);
work independently and in groups to achieve their learning outcomes;
demonstrate a critical awareness of the strengths, limitations and socio-professional implications of scholarly practice in journalism studies;